BHRUT hospital trust wins praise from Jeremy Hunt in new CQC report

Chief Nurse Kathryn Halford, left, and Chief Executive Matthew Hopkins celebrate after the announcement at Queen's Hospital, Romford in March 2017, to say that BHRUT was coming out of special measures. Picture: Catherine Davison

Catherine Davison/Archant

A hospital trust has been praised by health secretary Jeremy Hunt in a report focusing on the significant improvements it has made.

The report explores how eight NHS trusts, including BHRUT, made significant changes to improve the quality of care provided to patients ensuring a better CQC rating in the process.

“The NHS couldn’t do this without strong, visible leaders across the country who work with their excellent staff to improve care for patients,” he said.

“I want to thank the staff of Barking, Havering and Redbridge on a remarkable turnaround, and I hope others will be inspired to put these important lessons into practice at their own hospitals.”

BHRUT, which runs Queen’s Hospital, Rom Valley Way, Romford and King George Hospital, Barley Lane, Goodmayes, came out of special measures in March.

Party poppers, cheers of joy and some celebratory cake were all part of proceedings as the trust welcomed the news.

King George Hospital. Picture: Google Maps

The trust had been in special measures since a damning inspection in 2013.

Inspectors, who had visited the trust between September and October last year, were particularly impressed with the children and young people and outpatients, diagnostic imaging services.

Several impressive innovations were also noted by the inspectors which focused on tailored care to patients living with dementia, providing babies with home oxygen therapy which dramatically improved families’ quality of life, and the paediatric learning disability nurse.

The key finding of the report was how engaging and empowering staff was vital to driving improvement in hospitals.

Acting BHRUT chief executive, Jeff Buggle said: “We were delighted to be approached by the CQC to take part in this report so we could share the lessons we’ve learned on our improvement journey with a wider audience.

“Our turnaround is testament to the hard work of all our staff who took ownership of improvements in their own areas, ensuring we could provide better care to our patients.”

The trust also worked with the renowned Virginia Mason Institute in the US to improve care and was just one of five in the country to do so.